House Oversight Committee: IRS’s Lois Lerner lied to us, you know.

[The House Oversight committee report] states that [former IRS overseer Lois] Lerner made false statements to committee staff on various occasions.

During a February 2012 briefing, Lerner told committee staff that the criteria for evaluating tax-exempt applications had not changed. According to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), however, Lerner directed in June 2011 that the criteria used to identify applications be changed.

…and I don’t think that Darrell Issa is contemplating contempt charges. I think that he’s letting Ms. Lerner know that she has to decide soon whether it’s going to be her scalp that goes up on the lintel. House Oversight has no real reason not to put a former Director of IRS Exempt Organizations in jail for a few years, particularly if they can also convict a suitable number of subordinates: it would be nice to get the people in the Executive Branch who gave the orders, but putting the fear of God and Congress into those who got the orders will also pay dividends.

But, obviously if Lois Lerner is not the biggest fish in this investigation then Darrell Issa would like to get his hands on the one who is. That is Ms. Lerner’s only real bargaining card right now; I look forward to seeing her next play.